More Carter County Insanity

In Carter County, TN, the local government owns its property and it apparently thinks it owns your property, too. Here, the City of Elizabethton's water department has put a 12 inch waterline across a citizen's property on a supposedly temporary basis, apparently without paying him any compensation for it (Look for link to disappear, as money hungry local paper sometimes disables free links. Backup link here.) Rather than remove the line or pay him what could be an unlawful taking of his property in violation of the U.S. Constitution, they are apparently threatening to arrest him if he messes with the line. Meanwhile, the property owner claims that the line is leaking and regardless of whether that is true, it is most certainly an inconvenient eyesore.

This is a county that, within the last ten years or so, adopted an ill-conceived zoning ordinance that borders on ridiculous in its application and enforcement. This is a county where the new county mayor, Leon "Boss Hogg" Humphrey wants to cut the size of the county commission so he can more easily railroad his own proposals through the local government. One letter to the editor in the local newspaper actually said that they should cut the size of the commission by just eliminating any commissioner that did not agree with the mayor. Why not just make him king? This is a county where untold millions have been sunk into not one, but TWO, ill-fated jail projects over the years. Clearly, this is a county with a dysfunctional government. And they wonder why businesses don't want to locate in Carter County.

Sometimes the Scum Rises to the Top

Usually, the "cream rises to the top." It looks like that in Carter County, the scum has risen to the top this time, with disgraced former Republican Kent Williams being re-elected to the Tennessee House. WJHL just reported that Williams said that he didn't think he would be chosen again as Speaker of the House. Well.....duh.

Jerome Cochran reportedly stated that he had no other political aspirations. Well, that's probably a good thing. Mr. Cochran is a very nice, upstanding guy. I have a lot of respect for him, but I think he has a difficult time connecting with the voters in Carter County. Of course, Mr. Cochran also had to run against the constant pro-Williams bias of the Elizabethton Star and the Johnson City [de]Press[ed]. I seldom read the dePressed, because I refuse to give my money to such a leftist newspaper. I read the Star on occasion, and it seems that they were relentless in their positive exposure for Williams and in their negative exposure for Cochran. I have no idea if the Star endorsed a candidate, but they didn't need to. Their support for Williams was obvious from the content of its stories.

Carter County needs a strong conservative to step forward to defeat Kent Williams in the next election. I predict that the need for that will become more apparent during this term for Williams. His day in the sun is over. He will be relegated to nothingness in Nashville as he is a man without a party. Carter County will pay the price for sending him back to Nashville, as I predict he will be completely ineffectual.

A tool to check the power of the federal government

Here's something that Tennessee politicians should consider as well: an Article V call for a Constitutional convention to propose an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would allow for 2/3 of the states to nullify any act of Congress.

Two points: (1) You probably wouldn't need this if you repealed the 17th amendment (direct election of senators), and (2) You could probably count on Kent Williams to vote with the Democrats to make sure this never made it out of the Tennessee legislature.

Why doesn't Tennessee sue over Obamacare?

My understanding is that Tennessee would be joining in the lawsuit with the 20 states who are suing the federal government if the bill authorizing it had passed the Tennessee house. Jerome Cochran says that the reason is that Kent Williams joined with the Tenessee House Democrats to defeat the bill.

Kent Williams needs to be sent back to Carter County to retire. He's a tax and spend RINO who cannot even be trusted by his own (former) party. For more background on Mr. Williams, start with the famous "Judas" photo.

I think a lot of people in Carter County think that Judas Williams brings something "to the table" because he is the Speaker of the House. However, when you think ahead a little bit, it is easy to see that Judas Williams' days as Speaker are likely over. A vote for Williams is probably a vote for Jimmy Naifeh, a Democrat, as Speaker. Judas Williams was elected as Speaker as part of back room, shady deal. It is unlikely that he will ever be able to pull that deal off in the future. He'd probably join up with the Democrats today if he didn't know that it would kill his chances of getting elected in Carter County.

Another Excuse for Higher Taxes in Carter County

Three officers at the Sheriff's Department went to work for the city of Elizabethton. Sheriff Chris Mathes will undoubtedly use this as another reason to try to force the County Commission to rip off the property owners by raising taxes. When is he up for re-election?